Battle of Cartagena de Indias

The Battle of Cartagena de Indias was an amphibious military engagement between the forces of Britain under Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon and Spain under Admiral Blas de Lezo. It took place at the city of Cartagena de Indias in March 1741, in present-day Colombia. It was the most significant battle in the War of Jenkins' Ear and one of the largest naval campaigns in British history, though it is now largely forgotten. The war later was subsumed into the greater conflict of the War of the Austrian Succession. The battle ended in a major defeat and heavy losses for the British: 50 ships lost, badly damaged or abandoned, and losses of 18,000 soldiers and sailors,Coxe, William. Memoirs of the kings of Spain of the House of Bourbon, Volume 3, London 1815. Coxe also gives the overall loss of the expedition during the campaign as 20,000 lives lost, Reed Browning considers this "not implausible." p. 382. partly due to disease, especially yellow fever.Tindal, N. The continuation of Mr. Rapin's History of England, Vol. VII, London, MDCCLIX, p. 511, "The epidemical sickness by this time had carried off not only the greatest part of the troops, but had made havock amongst the crews that had sailed from England...". Also, Harbron, John D..Trafalgar and the Spanish navy, Conway Maritime Press, 1998, ISBN 0870216953, p. 108, "... yellow fever... killed perhaps 9,000 sailors and troops in the British...
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